#"Bunheads"

[incorrect-bhaalspawn-quotes]

Corwin: You want me to be a slut like you.

Safana: Yes! I get a coupon for every convert.

[fiction-quotes]

We're backstage in the Green Room before a Friday night performance, and all around me dancers are being fastened into their pristine white tutus. The room is a tangle of satin, tulle, and long, lean limbs. Some girls look deep in thought, while others chat loudly with one another. On the floor are discarded bits of clothing, lone pointe shoes, leg warmers, and half-empty water bottles.

“I took, like, eight Advil today,” a dark-haired dancer named Olivia says as she smacks her gum. “I hope I don't die before the curtain comes down.”

“You'd better not let Christine see that gum or she'll grab it right out of your mouth,” Adriana says as she sews into her pointe shoes. Her legs are long and almost skeletally thin.

But as I step into my own circle of ridged white tulle, I leave the chaos behind. It happens every time I dress for Waltz Variations: I feel as if I've time-traveled to a pst, more glamorous era. Fake diamonds drip down my sternum, and my false eyelashes seem as large and as dark as butterfly wings. Laura, one of the dressers, fastens the hooks on my bodice as I pull on my ivory gloves.

As soon as my costume is secure, I scurry out through the Green Room curtain and into the hands of the hairdressers. My friend Zoe is already there, impatiently tapping her foot in its pink pointe shoe.

“Hurry,” she growls as a flustered hairdresser attaches a diamond headpiece to Zoe's pale blond bun. “No, that's not it!” She pushes the hairdresser's hand away.

Because there's hardly any time, I decide to secure my headpiece myself. And apparently Zoe has decided to do this as well, because she shoves the hairdresser out of the way and steps in front of me, blocking my view of the mirror.

“I'm on before you,” I tell her, but she's too busy with her bobby pins to listen. I place the diamond-encrusted tiara around my bun while trying to peer around Zoe, who refuses to relinquish her place before the mirror. I stab myself in the scalp with a bobby pin. “Ouch,” I yelp. Then I sigh loudly. “Z,” I say, “you know, you're totally in my way.”

“What? Oh, hi, Hannah.” Zoe whirls around as if she's only just noticed me. Her green eyes feign surprise. Her mouth, like mine, is fully of clips and pins.

“Hi,” I say, putting my hands on my hips. “Do you mind?”

Zoe grins, turns back to her reflection, and scoots about a quarter of an inch to her left, so now I can almost see myself in the mirror.

Just as I get the tiara fixed, I hear the intro to my music. I run down the dark hall toward the stage, a piece of loose blond hair trailing behind me. I tuck it up into my bun and cross my fingers that it stays. My partner, Jonathan, is waiting for me in the darkened wings, a reassuring smile on his strong, handsome face. I lean back into his arms and allow him to support my back as he lifts me into the bright lights of the stage.

There I join the dozens of corps dancers, and as we swirl together, it seems as though we are an undulating sea of white. I am lifted off my feet, and it feels like flying.

  —  Bunheads (Sophie Flack)

[wistfulwatcher]

LINES I QUOTE DAILY | Bunheads, “What's Your Damage, Heather?”

[goodblacknews]

GBN's Daily Drop: Misty Copeland, 1st African American Principal Dancer in American Ballet Theatre History (LISTEN)

GBN’s Daily Drop: Misty Copeland, 1st African American Principal Dancer in American Ballet Theatre History (LISTEN)

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson) Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast is about Misty Copeland, the first African American principal dancer in the elite American Ballet Theatre‘s 75-year history, based on the Tuesday, March 15 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022: https://goodblacknews.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/GBNPADpod031522.mp3 You can follow or…

[notxjustxstories]

Dani: okay you four, front and center! Catalina: why me? I'm not in a fight. Dani: you need a fourth; watch The Craft.

[confessionsofan-adultishbookworm]

"Just when you think you can't go on, somewhere a little light comes on."

[incorrectmacgyvercbsquotes]

Mac: Stop following me! I'm not Justin Bieber!

Russ: Who?

Mac: Seriously?

[incorrect-catcf-quotes]

Mr. Salt: So you bolted. When?

Mr. Beauregarde: Right after YMCA.

Mr. Salt: Well, ya gotta stay for that.

[tomixslefttoe]

Jaania: You can’t listen to Warlic. He’s unstable and his hair never moves.

[notsomecase]

[incorrect-bhaalspawn-quotes]

Valygar: You're so exhausting!

Jan: We old people usually are.

[fiction-quotes]

There are moments onstage when everything else falls away, and I think of these as the magic times. In the magic times, I feel completely in control of my body, my limbs do everything that is asked of them, and I feel as if gravity has no hold on me. Tonight, dancing Lottie's part feels just like that.

  —  Bunheads (Sophie Flack)

[kellypaloma-favequotes]

I don't have that kid-friendly gene. I'm all sharp corners and a pool with no cover.

Bunheads

[forasecondtherewedwon]

Fangs: So, how are you?

Sweet Pea: I think I stole a dog.

[incorrectoldgermanstoriesquotes]

I'll be better after a bowl of soup.

Soup Kaspar